Travis Meyer retires from track racing, plans to put everything into road career

His older brother Cameron is one of the top contenders for the track events at the 2012 Olympics, but Travis Meyer has decided to follow a different path in his career after being frustrated by non-selections for Australian teams.

The 21 year old national road race champion has found himself as reserve for the team pursuit on more than one occasion and, after trying things out once more earlier this year, has decided to focus everything on the road instead. “I wanted to give it another crack to see if I could make the team,” Meyer told SBS.com.au, referring to his work towards the Beijing World Cup and the track worlds. “I didn’t want to leave before I really gave it a red-hot go. I did [that] and I was still was the reserve for the teams pursuit so basically after that was the decision that I’d be a full-time roadie.”

Like Cameron Meyer, he will be a member of the Garmin-Cervélo squad for 2011. Together with directeur sportif Matt White, he has worked out likely targets for the season. The influx of big riders from the Cervélo Test Team mean that places in the Grand Tours will be mopped up by more experienced competitors; he’s pencilled in on the long list for the Vuelta a España, but feels its unlikely that he will ride it in 2011.

Meyer is one of the youngest riders on the Garmin team and another year doing shorter races could be more important than digging too deep, too soon.

White talks about the value, and the danger, of doing Grand Tours. “It’s a great experience and it does make you a little bit stronger but you’ve got to be able to handle the rest of the season first,” he stated. “The secret with the young guys is you can’t flog them too much. Anyone can learn how to grovel. When they come out of the under 23s they know how to win so you don’t want them to lose that.”

He said that the correct thing to do is to strike the right balance; to extend the riders, but to do so without discouraging them.

Meyer’s immediate goal is to target the national road race championships again, attempting to take the jersey for the second year running. He’ll be a marked rider and might not be as sharp as he hasn’t been doing track training, but is a year older and is more experienced. That will count for something on the day.

He’ll prepare for the road race and criterium titles by riding the Geelong Bay Cycling Classic; after the championships, he is scheduled to ride the Santos Tour Down Under, then head to the Tour of Qatar. Those races will ramp up his form prior to early season events in Europe such as Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne and the Vuelta a Murcia.